Arias 1

Emilio Arias
Project 2, Part 2 Final Draft
4 October 2016
Becoming Part of a Tribe
Chapter 15.5 comes after Jimmy flies his plane down into a great lake and before Zits
takes on the body of his drunk father. In my opinion it was a good idea to allow Zits to
experience a more positive life than the ones he had already experienced. Taking on the persona
of Robert in an Indian boarding school allowed Zits to face many realities he had never been a
part of as a teen. Having friends and being on the football team allowed Zits to live the life he
never had. For once he could have a group of people who cared for him and saw him as one of
their own. At the same time the football team created a sense of community and tribe. Zits had
never experienced being a true Indian and what it meant. Everyone on the football was Indian
and personified that idea of a tribe. Playing game was like going into battle for them. They
worked as a unit to show demonstrate their strength and win the title they sought after. Losing
the game would allow Zits to understand that not everything comes easy to idolized people.
Nobody lives a perfect life and therefore he shouldnt look down on his own. Ultimately the
sense of community and brotherhood that Zits never got to experience is showcased in this
chapter and demonstrates how he responses to it.
In To Show What an Indian Can Do: Sports at Native American Boarding Schools John
Bloom interviews Jeff McCould, a social worker in Minneapolis who attended a boarding school
during the 1960s. McCloud recounts his experience in the boarding school and the effect it had
on many of the students. There was a wide range of backgrounds in the boarding school, from

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Native Americans to African Americans to Hispanics. Bloom primarily focused on McClouds

recount of sports and how many of the students, especially Native Americans adapted to it.
Although the school was created to assimilate many of the youths into white culture it had the
opposite effect because it allowed for a Pan-Indian alliance (Bloom, John) to grow from the
student body. On top of that McCloud states that sports allowed many of the Indian students to
create a sense of community, almost like a tribe. Competing against other tribes other tribes
from the same position on a team you beat out people from, from, um, Standing or Turtle
Mountain or trying to get the same position youre after. (Bloom, John) In my chapter I
focused on the idea of Zits becoming integrated in a group of Indian football players. I wanted
put him in a situation which he was unfamiliar with: being athletic and having friends to hang
out with. The introduction of a sport sequence allowed Zits to understand the importance of
teamwork and the effect of being part of tribe had on native Americans during their time of
assimilation.
In my second source, Boarding School Seasons: American Indian Families, 1900-1940,
the author expands on the points made by John Bloom in his scholarly article. The author, Child,
focuses primarily on the Flandreau and Haskell boarding schools and their extra-curricular
activities. She points out that sports were very popular with students and interprets Blooms ideas
of these activities. She comes to similar conclusions as Bloom did that the role of sports at
government boarding schools as being contradictory. (Child, Brenda) Another aspect that Child
focuses on in her article is the labor that took place in boarding schools, specifically in
Flandreau. but most students mostly labored diligently to keep their schools in operation.
(Child, Brenda) It was typical for students to work within the school they went to as a way to
decrease the amount of funds that left the school. At the same time the people who owned the

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school made more money like this. Building up to the 1930s Flandreau slowly added formal
trained teachers and normal school programs. (Child, Brenda) In my chapter Zits takes over
the body of Robert and witnesses the boarding school as it was in the 1930s. He notices the child
labor that occurs in the mess hall but doesnt think much about it. Zits doesnt have to deal with
it, seeing as how hes has a big game that day. By the 1930s child labor in boarding school was
beginning to decrease but it was definitely still an aspect of those institutions.
My last source To Change Them Forever: Indian Education at the Rainy Mountain
Boarding School, 1893-1920, focuses primarily on the reasons why native American children
were sent to boarding school. Some families believed that education and training meant a more
secure future. Others knew that the schools supplied food, clothing, and shelter to every pupil.
(Ellis, Clyde) Many native families saw boarding schools as a way for their children to assimilate
into American culture. At the same time, it would be a burden taken away from them if someone
else took care of their children. Although it was true that these schools did try to assimilate
natives, it wasnt a fast process. A sense of Indian pride grew, especially in team sports. Thats
why in my chapter I focused primarily on athletics and how it allowed Zits to interact with
fellow Indians in a constructive way. Although I didnt cover in my chapter the reasons why
many of the students were in the boarding school, it could be hinted that with the time period the
great depression was setting in and therefore many native American families sent their children
away to be taken care by someone else.
Sherman Alexie employs rhetorical strategies in his book to highlight different themes
and ideas. One stylistic choice I found very effective was the use of repetition. The reason many
authors use repetition is to get a point across to readers. In Alexies case he uses repetition to
emphasize a specific line of dialogue or draw attention to a theme. One scene that drew my

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attention was when Zits recalls his abusive Auntie Z. He states I learned how to stop crying. I
learned how to hide inside myself. I learned how to be somebody else. I learned how to be cold
and numb. (Alexie, Sherman) As a child Zits was constantly surrounded by hatred and faulty
upbringing. He learned to hide, both physically and emotionally, to avoid the abuse of life.
Throughout the book Alexie highlights the struggle of growing up Indian in foster homes and the
damage it has on Zitss life. The passage above exemplifies this theme and how Zits dealt with
the pain. In my chapter I employ repetition in a similar fashion to draw attention to a specific line
and its meaning. Running around, tackling other players allowed me to release my pent up
anger. My hatred toward my foster families. My hatred toward my drunk father. My hatred
toward the world. (Arias, Emilio) In the scene Zits describes practicing with his teammates and
the rush of adrenaline he gets as he runs around and tackles people. All the pent up anger hes got
bottled up in his body and mind is released with every play. Its almost therapeutic for him. Zits
comes to focus his anger on the horrible life hes lived mainly because of foster families and his
drunk father. He gets to deal with his emotions in a constructive way that doesnt permanently
damage him or other people.

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Work Cited

Bloom, John. "The 1930's and Pan-Indian Pride." To Show What an Indian Can Do:

Sports at Native American Boarding Schools. Minneapolis: U of Minnesota, 2000. 51-53.

Ellis, Clyde. "We Had a Lot of Fun... That Wasn't the School Part" To Change Them
Forever: Indian Education at the Rainy Mountain Boarding School, 1893-1920. Norman:

U of Oklahoma, 1996. 92-95.

Child, Brenda J. "Working for the School." Boarding School Seasons: American Indian

Families, 1900-1940. Lincoln: U of Nebraska, 1998. 76-77

Alexie, Sherman. Flight: A Novel. New York: Black Cat, 2007. Print.
Arias, Emilio. Chapter 15.5.